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Posts tagged ‘Shubh Deepawali’

My favorite holiday of the year is upon us again. As a child of various cultures I celebrate many holidays but Divali has a special place in my heart. I might only be a Hindu at Heart but as I said in a few posts before this is the only holiday that makes me cry with its beauty.

Here in Trinidad I am normally working producing news but I usually go to the home of a friend after work to see the lights as I drive and eat with close friends. There is something about this holiday that touches me deeply. Childhood memories of lighting deyas at my paternal grandparent’s home – Presbyterian but clearly hedging their bets. The smell of burning coconut oil. The thrill of us kids being allowed to be near fire to replenish the coconut oil to keep the lights burning.

Every year as I drive I see the humblest of homes spend whatever little money they have to welcome goddess Laxshmi in and celebrate the triumph of light over darkness. I guess that is also what I stand for. The triumph of truth over denial.

I cry because I know in every one of those homes I am welcome as would be any stranger because Divali is about that. So every home no matter how humble is a celebration of the human spirit: of faith in a better world. Divali is a universal celebration. Who wouldn’t want light in their life?

Today, a large chunk of the world’s population celebrates Deepawali or Divali ( as it is known in this part of the world). It is the Hindu celebration of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. I am not a religious sort myself but I think most of my readers would join in me wishing for a bit more knowledge rather than ignorance.

In other news, I think we can all feel a bit better that we live in a world where , thanks to Barcelona, the words Queer Kissing Flashmob can exist together. As I mentioned before this is meant to be a response to the imminent arrival of the Pope in Barcelona. His less than moderate views on the LGBT world have led the community to plan a kissing flash mob protest. Through several minutes of earnest digging on the web – okay, I just went to their Facebook page – I managed to find one of the posters for the event.

I hope his Holiness appreciates all the hard work and Photoshop work that went into preparing for his visit.

I have been uploading a number of past interviews I did to Vimeo recently to make them available to a wider audience. Though I seldom watch my own interviews I sat through one I did a few months ago with local writer, commentator and T&T Humanist Association founding member , Kevin Baldeosingh. Much of the interview’s content is specific to Trinidad & Tobago, but it also deals with the responsibility of governments to make difficult decision about minority groups even when such protection isn’t popular with the general population. You can decide for yourself. I will say, though, Kevin is one of the smartest people I know, so it is worth a listen regardless. Abortion rights and LGBT rights starts at around the 12:31 mark.

In honor of Deepawali/Diwali might I suggest that everyone read India’s own Gaylaxymag.com